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27 Nov 2007

Walk The Talk(HKTDC Electronics, Vol 04,2007)

Whoever said walkie-talkies went out of fashion when mobile phones arrived has clearly never talked to Jackson Mak, Managing Director of Daxian-Windsor Technology Ltd.

"Walkie-talkies are still very good sellers because of the many advantages they have over cell phones," Mr Mak claims, citing a housewife's inability to put a mobile phone by a baby's cot and hear when her child wakes and starts to cry.

"However, the walkie-talkie-wise mother can be in the kitchen or perhaps doing the laundry with a walkie-talkie by her side and another monitoring any sound from the child - this is one of the interesting features of our WT-206 walkie-talkie with baby monitor function."

Walkie-talkies have hundreds more applications, but easily their most attractive feature is that, apart from the batteries, they cost nothing to operate.

They run on their own power and don't have to go through a network like cell phones and there are no monthly fees, Mr Mak enthuses. "People can talk to one another as long as they like depending on the batteries, and it doesn't cost a cent."

However, he admits that walkie-talkies do have limitations, partly because most countries restrict the output power to 0.5W. "Also, the line-of-sight principle means the maximum distance for communication is about 4km," Mr Mak says.

He notes that consumer and commercial walkie-talkies differ in a number of ways - for example, commercial gear is generally more rugged, with metal cases. "It often has only a few specific frequencies programmed into it, since a given business or public safety agent must often abide by a specific frequency allocation," Mr Mak adds.

"Consumer gear, on the other hand, is generally made to be small, lightweight and capable of accessing any channel within the specified band, not just a subset of assigned channels."

The latter advantages have attracted hundreds of thousands of people in European countries such as the UK, France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Greece, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic who wouldn't venture out without their walkie-talkies.

"Our sales have been even stronger now we are producing the world's lightest walkie-talkies," Mr Mak observes. "The secret is that they use lithium batteries and weigh only a few ounces, besides fitting in the palm of the hand."

The new model attracted a "very healthy order" recently from the French-based global supermarket chain Carrefour, clearly indicating that Daxian-Windsor is on the right track despite not having its own factory.

"However, thanks to previous connections in the business we place orders with reliable factories in Shenzhen with an established track record," Mr Mak explains.

Daxian-Windsor specialises in telecommunication products and has more than 15 years' experience in the field. "We design and develop two-way radios for markets worldwide, including Europe, the US, Japan, Australia and China," Mr Mak notes. "Our product range also includes DECT phones, 2.4GHz phones, MP3 players and dynamo torches."

Daxian-Windsor also provides contract manufacturing services for overseas customers, including several "major" service providers. "Our service includes consulting on product development, components sourcing and procurement as well as production and quality control," Mr Mak says.

He adds that Daxian-Windsor's ISO 9001-certified management system and expertise allows the company to support and provide a full range of contract manufacturing.

"New facilities like SMT for lead-free processing ensure we are well equipped and able to cope with RoHS registration and that we are equally well prepared in components procurement and stock control."

For example, he is particularly excited about the prospects of a new product presently called an "auto-photo/video recorder" being co-produced with another manufacturer. "If it is set to take photos every two minutes, it can continue recording for one month, producing 1.3m pixel images using a 2G SD card," Mr Mak explains.

The recorder has many security-related uses that include warehouse patrols and close and constant surveillance of delivery vehicle drivers to ensure they are on track and on schedule.

"The concept isn't new but our design is," Mr Mak adds. "The recorders we produce are only about 3x2 inches or business card size, and can be positioned unobtrusively to record a large range of different activities."

However, they also have non-security uses, such as allowing tourists to fix the recorder onto the dashboard to make their own documentaries. "They can also be used as time-lapse cameras - letting users take pictures continuously over a certain period - or to take impromptu pictures of children or family members," Mr Mak adds. "This product's applications are virtually limitless and only restricted by the user's imagination."

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